SPRING?: A RARE MILD FEBRUARY PROMPTS EARLY BLOOMS

According to the calendar, spring is a little longer than three weeks away. But you'd never know it with the daffodils and forsythia bushes already in bloom in Cape Girardeau.

Unusually mild temperatures this month have caused many early flowering plants, shrubs, and some trees to begin budding or blooming two to four weeks ahead of normal, said Charles Korns, professor of horticulture at Southeast Missouri State University.

Korns said some of the rose bushes outside the university's greenhouse are already showing new growth, while others have swelled buds. In other areas of town, jonquils and daffodils are already blooming, along with some yellow forsythia bushes.

Korns said flowering-plant, bush and shrub growth at this point is about ahead of normal. "If the weather hadn't cooled down this week, we could have seen some color in the tulip magnolia trees, which do not normally bloom until mid-March," he said.

Daily temperatures this month have averaged as high as 15 to 20 degrees above normal. The average daily high for late February is around 50 degrees while the average low is around 30 degrees.

According to weather records at Midwest Weather Services at Cape Girardeau Municipal Air

port, the overnight low hasn't been below 32 degrees since Feb. 10, when it fell to 24. Since Feb. 1, there have only been seven days when the overnight low was below 32 degrees.

On the other hand, there have been seven days when the daily high was at or above 60 degrees and 14 days when the high was 50 degrees or above.

While most people are enjoying the beauty of the early flowering plants and shrubs, people like David Diebold and Bill Beggs would like to see temperatures drop back to near normal levels for late February.

Diebold and his family own and operate Diebold's Orchard near Kelso, while Beggs and his family operate a peach orchard on Silver Springs Road on the west side of Cape Girardeau.

"I'm definitely not unhappy to see this cooler weather," said Diebold. "The growth on our peach trees is about one month ahead of schedule. We're seeing the peach buds starting to swell out on the limbs. This cooler weather will cause the trees to go dormant again and slow down the budding process."

Diebold and Beggs said the tiny peach buds are now entering a critical part of their development almost a month ahead of schedule.

"From here on out we sure don't want to see the temperature drop below 10 degrees, preferably no lower than 15 degrees," said Diebold. "Because of their advanced bud growth and development, the trees are going to be very susceptible to extremely cold weather damage a lot longer than we'd prefer at least through mid-April."

Both said if the mild temperatures last week had continued through the end of this week, many of the peach trees would be in full bloom by early March. "If that happens right now, it would be a real fight to save them if we get a blast of cold air anytime in March or early April," said Diebold.

That possibility seems remote at this time. The National Weather Service's 30-day weather outlook for March calls for temperatures to continue to average near or above seasonal levels in Missouri.

While many home gardeners like to plant their lettuce patches on Valentine's Day, Korns said the wise gardener waits a little longer before planting other spring garden vegetables. While a killing freeze may not damage fruit trees, it will kill tender garden plants that have been set out in the cold ground.

The long-term average date of the last killing freeze (30 degrees) here is April 2. In 1991, the last killing freeze occurred on March 31. But in 1989, the last killing freeze occurred on April 11.

The latest date for a killing freeze at the airport during the past 31 years is May 17, 1968. The earliest date for the last killing freeze during the same period is March 6, 1985.

Within the past 15 to 20 years, peach growers in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois have been devastated on several occasions when tender peach buds and blooms were destroyed by a sudden blast of frigid air in March or early April.

Last year, it wasn't cold weather but wet weather that caused heavy damage to the peach crop in this area. Beggs said the wet spring resulted in a peach blight that reduced yields as much as 50 to 55 percent. In addition, peach trees in northern Missouri were heavily damaged in early November when temperatures dipped into the teens and single-digit figures.

Peach growers are hoping El Nino, which is responsible for the mild temperatures, will continue through the end of spring, protecting the tiny peach buds from a sudden, hard freeze.